March 16, 2011

Emanuel allies back four more in aldermanic runoffs

A political fund aligned with Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday endorsed four more candidates in next month’s City Council runoff elections, including contenders in three races the incoming mayor has decided to sit out.

The newly endorsed candidates will join seven others getting money and campaign help from the For a Better Chicago political action committee. Greg Goldner, who spearheads the fund, ran Emanuel’s first congressional campaign and now is promoting a pro-business agenda that in many cases mirrors that of the next mayor.

At the start of this week, the fund had more than $175,000, according to state election reports, and its managers said they continue to raise money. The most recent contributions came from businesses, but the group’s first cash infusions of $855,000 from its non-profit arm remain undisclosed.

The biggest surprises came in the 24th Ward on the West Side, where Goldner’s group chose a challenger over the sitting alderman, and in the 43rd Ward that includes Lincoln Park, where the group chose a hospital administrator over the Democratic committeeman.

In the 24th, former Ald. Michael Chandler got the endorsement in his rematch with Ald. Sharon Denise Dixon. Both got less than 20 percent in the Feb. 22 election.

In the 43rd Ward race to replace the retiring Ald. Vi Daley, the group chose Tim Egan, a vice president at Norwegian American Hospital, over Michele Smith, the committeeman who forced Daley into a hard-fought runoff four years ago.

Emanuel so far has chosen not to make endorsements in six of the 14 runoff contests, including those in the 24th and 43rd Wards.

The mayor-elect also has not endorsed in the 41st Ward on the Northwest Side, where For a Better Chicago is backing Democratic committeeman Mary O’Connor over Maurita Gavin, an aide to outgoing Ald. Brian Doherty, the council’s lone Republican.

“Some races, I will not get involved in at all and just let the voters of that area decide,” Emanuel said Tuesday.

Emanuel backs candidates who have agreed to support his agenda and “appreciate the fact that the budget has to be reformed fundamentally,” he said.

In the 15th Ward, the political fund supports Ald. Toni Foulkes over Raymond Lopez, who works for Southwest Airlines.

The group is sitting out three races, including the 45th on the Northwest Side where Ald. Patrick Levar is calling it quits and in the 46th Ward on the North Side, where Helen Shiller is retiring.

It’s also making no endorsement in the 6th Ward, where Ald. Freddrenna Lyle faces a challenge from Roderick Sawyer, the son of a former mayor. Lyle, who pledged to return money from the group after a Tribune story about it, is backed by Emanuel.

And it's backing Ald. Willie Cochran, 20th, over challenger Che “Rhymefest” Smith. Emanuel has chosen not to take sides in that contest.

All told, the group is backing 11 candidates, none of which is opposed by Emanuel.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

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Clout has a special meaning in Chicago, where it can be a noun, a verb or an adjective. This exercise of political influence in a uniquely Chicago style was chronicled in the Tribune cartoon "Clout Street" in the early 1980s. Clout Street, the blog, offers an inside look at the politics practiced from Chicago's City Hall to the Statehouse in Springfield, through the eyes of the Tribune's political and government reporters.